The Great Sacrifice
by Amymimi
Summary: When Jesse is shot by the police, James goes to desperate measures to save her.
1. Part I - Part XVII

Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon or Team Rocket!

Jesse and James had finally caught some Pokemon! After planning months in advance, Team Rocket had broken into the Rare Pokemon Pet Shop and stolen some extremely valuable Pokemon for the boss. As they ran away with their loot, Jesse grinned. br br "Wow, James, this is the first time we have actually been able to steal Pokemon! Ash and his little friends aren't here to screw it up, either!"

"This is the best day of my life!" James squealed. "We will finally be able to please Giovanni. After all these years..."

Meowth cut in. "-an' I will be the boss's top cat once again!"

As the trio ran off into the nearby forest with their cargo, they did not realize that they had been spotted. Gleefully, they pulled out their flashlights so they could make their way through the dark, thick forest without getting lost. After they had gotten a few miles away from the city in a secluded place, Jesse decided that this would be the best place to camp out for the night. They rolled out their sleeping bags and began to lie down as their dratini screeched suddenly.

"Wh-what was that?" James questioned.

"Oh, it's just the dratini," she mumbled as she slammed James with a stick. "Just go to sleep."

However, Team Rocket could not get to sleep. The dratini seemed disturbed. Nervously, it popped its head out of the water tub it was in and looked around in the dark towards a sound it heard. A sound coming closer... and closer...

"PUT YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR. YOU ARE SURROUNDED!" a megaphone boomed. It was the police.

"Oh no!" James whined. "I knew it. We never get away with anything."

Jesse whispered harshly at James. "Shut up, James. We're going to make a run for it. With the dratini and clefable, of course. We HAVE to do this!"

"But... I'm scared!"

"We can do it, James. We will escape."

"IF YOU DO NOT SURRENDER, WE WILL SHOOT," the megaphone blasted again.

"Oh, Jesse, they have guns!"

"We'll be ok. On the count of five, we'll make a run for it. Ready Meowth?"

"Yah, ready as ever," Meowth meowed.

"Five...Four...Three...Two...One...GO!"

And with that the terrified trio sought to escape into the darkness and evade the police. It wasn't easy, however; the police were right behind them in jeeps. Jesse, James, and Meowth panted and sweat as they ran. Soon, they reached a small clearing. Thinking they were far enough ahead of the police to cross it, Jesse and James bounded across it as fast as they could. Meowth took a detour up a tree, knowing Jesse and James were making a dumb decision.

"Hide, yous guys!" he hissed.

While Jesse and James sped across the meadow, the head of police took aim at Jesse. As she struggled to jump over the grass to the woods again, the man shot her in the back and she was struck down face first. James heard the shot ring out through the wilderness, but assumed it missed its target. He took a fantastic leap and climbed up into a tree hidden by shadows and vines. He searched for the police, who he knew were still following him closely. For a while they stopped, however, and Meowth's hisses could be heard. They must have caught Meowth.

James grew frightened by the approaching police, but knew he wouldn't be found. Looking around, he saw the jeeps coming towards him with Meowth in a cage by the driver, saw the jeeps go by without spotting him, and saw them slow down and stop a few hundred yards past where he was in hiding. He then saw something that made his blood run cold. Jesse had been shot. Her lifeless body lay in a clump of weeds near the edge of the woods.

"Oh, no…Jesse…" he sobbed.

After a few seconds of despairing, he snapped out of his crying mode and knew what he had to do. Although he was safe up in the tree, he had to jump down and save Jesse, praying that she was alive. Only thinking of his partner, James took a giant leap out into the meadow.

After hitting the ground, he immediately raced over to Jesse and scooped her up in his arms, getting ready to run the opposite way of the police. However, as he looked at his partner, he saw that she was very near death or already dead. He looked at his arm that held up her back. It was covered in blood. Jesse's eyes were barely open and she was taking very small, hardly noticeable gasps of air. James knew she wouldn't make it all the way back to Vermilion City. He spotted the police up in front of him, looking in the trees with their flashlights for him. He knew he was highly risking his death, but he had to save his Jesse.

Cautiously walking towards the back of the jeep, James silently sobbed as he looked at the limp figure of Jesse in his arms. He spotted the police near the jeep with backs turned to him, not even realizing he was there. He decided to get their attention.

"Uh, pardon... Pardon... me... could you please help me?" he weakly asked the police, a few yards in front of him. All of a sudden they whirled around and shined their flashlights at him. They raised their guns at him.

"Oh, could you please, please help my partner? Please…" They cocked their weapons.

Letting out a pitiful sob, James fell to his knees with Jesse still in his arms.

"If you can save her, I'll do anything. Arrest me. Beat me and chain me or enslave me. Anything!" he cried pitifully at the cold policemen's faces as their guns still pointed at his cowering body. "I know. You were supposed to kill me too. But if you save my partner and don't kill me while you're at it, I can tell you everything you would ever want to know about Team Rocket and their schemes and plans of heists in the future! I'll tell you anything you want to know! Just... Please help her!" and he tipped his head at the figure of Jesse in his arms.

After a few minutes of murmuring police, which seemed like hours to James, the head of police stepped ahead of the others, still bracing his gun. James bowed his head and shut his eyes tightly; he knew he was going to die. As the man came closer, he touched James on the head with the barrel of his gun.

"All right. We will try to help her. But you must agree to all the terms of payment for this mercy we are granting you and your partner."

"Yes! Thank you! Thank you!" James cried in happiness, crying tears of sheer joy and exhaustion. A policeman came over, picked up Jesse out of James's arms, and put her on the jeep. Then, two more policemen chained James's hands and feet together and put him on the jeep as well.

The jeep sped off to the hospital and EMTs rushed out to bring Jesse to the emergency room. As she was wheeled away quickly on the stretcher, James was lead, chained up, into the hospital lobby where the police decided to discuss a bit of the deal with James on letting Jesse live.

"Since there is a chance your partner may not make it through the night, we will allow you to spend the first night, and first night only, with her in her room. Be warned, however, that we will be on guard outside of the room and have put bars on the windows so don't dare try to escape."

"Oh, I won't," James replied. He was frightened for Jesse. She just had to live.

After being unchained and left in Jesse's room, James sat nervously on the bed waiting for Jesse. _Oh, she has to make it through this. She can't just die on me..._

End of Part I

As James sat waiting for good news, Jesse was on the operating table in the emergency room. The doctors had successfully found the bullet, removed it, and sewed her up again. The bullet had gone through the edge of some organs, though, and there was a high chance she might not make it. The organs had been stitched up, but they would be very weak until or if they healed fully. After taking an x-ray to see if there was any more damage, doctors realized her right leg was broken quite badly and would take many months to heal. They assumed it probably broke when she fell on the stones in the meadow after being shot. The bone had been cracked clean through and a strong cast was put on to support her leg as it healed.

Hours later, Jesse was brought back into her room. She was unconscious, but James ran right over to her bed and tried to talk to her. When she wouldn't respond, he grew worried.

"SHE'S DEAD!" he cried. And he started sobbing uncontrollably, touching her face and hands for a sign of life. The doctors and nurses heard this wailing and raced in.

"She isn't dead, sir, she's unconscious," they told him. "In order to be operated on she had to be put to sleep for a while."

"Oh, ok," James answered timidly. He felt like an idiot. How could he have not known that? He laughed nervously as the staff left the room.

All night James stayed up and watched Jesse, just in case she would awake during the night. By morning he was exhausted and had no satisfaction in getting to see her regain consciousness. When Jesse finally did come to at early morning, James was lying beside her bed on the ground in a very uncomfortable position. Looking around the room, Jesse became scared.

_Where am I? What am I doing here? _She saw the tubes and machines that hospitals used scattered in the room._ I must be in a hospital! Where's James?_

After seeing that James was not within view, Jesse became fearful. She feared he had died and she had barely made it through some accident. Curiously, she called out his name, just in case someone could tell her where he was.

"James? James?"

She became anxious to know so she decided to get out of the bed and look around for people who might know. As she struggled with all her might to lift her good leg, not even thinking about the awful pain in her back and right leg, Jesse touched her toe on something not floorlike. She shrank back into her bed as she let out a small shriek.

After settling herself down, she decided to look at what she stepped on. Just as she was preparing to look over, she heard a movement from whatever it was down on the floor. The thing stood up, and immediately, she recognized the shadowy figure of James.

"James!" she exclaimed.

"Jesse!" shouted James. "You're awake! I'm so happy you're okay!" And they embraced.

Jesse was a bit confused though.

"What happened to me? Why am I in the hospital?" she asked him.

"You're here because you were shot in the back by one of the police officials. They caught us before we could escape with anything again, Jesse!"

"Uh, then why am I here? Why am I not dead? I'm sure a gunshot wound would've killed me and they wouldn't have saved me."

"You are going to be just fine, Jesse; don't you worry about anything."

Suddenly the door opened up and three policemen came in. "You have to come with us now, sir," they ordered to James. As James waved a small goodbye to her, the policemen grabbed him by his arms and shoved him out the door before either could say anything more.

End Of Part III

James was hurried out the hospital door and into a waiting paddy wagon to receive his sentence as part of the deal. The paddy wagon drove off to a prison a few miles away where James was changed into his inmate uniform and placed in a cell. There he would stay. Along with prison, he would have to do any tasks the police ordered him to do as part of his payment sentence.

When Meowth had arrived at the Pokemon pound a day's drive away, he was thrown into a dingy unkempt cage with a few other Pokemon: a Growlithe, an Eevee, an Arcanine, and a Rattata. As soon as he hit the ground, the dog Pokemon had surrounded him and were growling at him ferociously. He immediately backed up to the corner of the pen and began to plead earnestly.

"Please, ya guys, ya don't wanta hurt ol' Meowth here, do ya? I jus got here. Gimme a chance, guys. I wanta live jus like yins all do."

It was apparent his begging had fallen on deaf ears. None of these animals knew how to speak human tongue! How stupid he had been! Meowth struggled to remember Pokemon language and tried to communicate a pleading for mercy with them.

Back at the prison, James was pushed into getting used to his environment quickly. The first day in prison was the hardest for him. After only a half-hour of resting from the long night awake the day before, at five o' clock in the morning, James was shoved outside with a shovel to help dig a trench around the prison complex. Along with a few other inmates, he was chained to a forty foot chain, the only distance he could move around, and followed by strict officers with whips, who, at the slightest suspicion of laziness, would beat him until he collapsed, only having to stand up and work again.

For hours and hours James toiled and dug as the officers ruthlessly punished him at any sign of weakness. James was not used to this type of work. He had never had a job before he joined Team Rocket, and in Team Rocket, the job consisted of running around, breaking into places, and stealing Pokemon and other valuables. Backbreaking physical labor was not his style. As James struggled to get the job done, he thought back to his ritzy childhood. He never had to do any work and he just played around his mansion all day with Growly, his Growlith. But he hated Jezebel! He ran away from the estate because of her and somehow managed to attempt at education at Pokemon Tech. Of course, that wasn't a bad thing at all because that's where he met Jesse, his future partner in crime. On the finals, he and Jesse had the worst scores at the academy, so they both quit and joined a bicycle gang, where they just hung out and beat up passing pedestrians. The rest had to do with joining Team Rocket and their life as criminals. What rotten luck he and Jesse turned out to have! Now he'd be stuck here for eternity, she'd be moved over to the prison once she healed up and they'd both have to be in prison forever!

End Of Part 4

Crack! The whip over James's head knocked him out of his reverie and signified another beating would take part. He cringed over as the whip slashed across his back and caused him to flinch in pain. The officer didn't stop the beating until James fell pitifully onto the ground. As the officer walked away, James moaned and tried to get back up again. After a few seconds, he finally was able to get back to work.

A surging pain seemed to engulfed Jesse's whole body as she lie in bed looking at the ceiling. The heavy painkillers from the night before had worn off and she was feeling all the pain. Earlier, when she tried to crawl out of bed, the painkillers were still strong in her system. Now she felt like she was going to die. Trying to think over the pain of her wounds, Jesse couldn't help but wonder why she, a Team Rocket member shot by the police, would be rescued and treated at the hospital? And what had happened to James?

All day the inmates worked as hard as possible until the heat of the afternoon got the best of them. Each of the inmates was showing their own form of heat exhaustion, James included. Eventually the officers allowed the inmates to take off their shirts as they worked to help them cool off. The inmates were all thankful for this and took off their shirts, all except James. Although he felt faint from being overheated, James was fearful to take off his shirt like the others had done. If he would get whipped, he would have to feel the full sting of that leather strap on his skin and he could imagine the intense pain of that. In time, though, the blazing sun got the best of him and he removed his shirt. And, just as he pictured, he had to feel the full power and sting of the whip on his already burning back. After a few whippings, the sting of the whip dulled, the burning from the previous whippings covered up the present punishment's sting.

Meanwhile, at the Pokemon pound, Meowth's pleading had been successful. The Growlithe and Arcanine were okay with his presence now. Every time he'd look at the weak little Rattata, however, the dog Pokemon would be right there, growling at him until he retreated. Meowth was a social butterfly, though. Along with ingratiating the dog Pokemon, Meowth became acquaintances with the Eevee in his cage. Until the late evening, the feline Pokemon lay around with the others in his cage, wondering what had happened to his two Team Rocket buddies. Jesse was supposedly being treated for her wounds, but what about James? He thought long and hard about what could've happened to his Team Rocket pals until his thought was completely stopped, and almost his heart.

End Of Part V

The female Meowth was lowered into the cage with him late that evening. Meowth's eyes bulged out and his mouth drooled in interest. Her name was Candy, and he would now work to impress her and would think of nothing else.

At nightfall, the inmates were all chained, brought back to the prison, unchained, then hustled into the shower rooms with a towel, rag, and soap. The shower room was a large open room with showerheads right next to one another in view of each other. Everyone could see each other naked! As the inmates were pushed into the room and began to undress, James became paranoid. _I can't do this. This is embarrassing! _ He couldn't just strip in front of all these strangers. As he sought to sneak out of the shower room he was shoved back in by the officers and the barred door was shut behind him. The officers were forcing them to take showers! He felt filthy and didn't like being that way, but he didn't want to have to wash off in front of everyone. Turning around, he faced the police on the other side of the bars and nervously asked them,

"Is it possible I could take a shower somewhere else?"

The officers turned around and laughed scornfully in his face. Their expressions immediately turned grim.

"You have to take a shower with the others. You will have to get used to it," one of the officers replied. And with that he pointed to the showers and gave James a stern stare. "Go!" he ordered him.

James dejectedly slumped his shoulders as he trudged over to a far corner in the room. Even though it was a corner shower, it was still in view of the inmates. There was a small brick wall in the center of the room, but it was only three feet tall and meant to support the bottom of the showerheads in the center. That was the only cover there was. James had an idea. He held his towel up at his waistline as he undressed so no one could see what he didn't want to expose. Sighing with some relief, he saw he had managed to get through the undressing part without indecent exposure.

As he started his shower, he decided to turn the heat up so the steam would cover his corner and make viewing him harder. It steamed up things, but it was burning his cut-up back so badly that he had to turn the temperature down and the steam disappeared.

When he was nearly finished with his shower, successful with holding his towel up as he washed off, another inmate sneaked up behind him and startled him so much he dropped his towel on the floor. Covering up with his rag instead and going for the towel, James was too late, for the man grabbed it quickly and strolled back over to his shower before he could say anything. Embarrassed at first, James soon became angry and decided to copy off the guy that took his towel. Covering with the rag, he walked over to a small inmate's towel, grabbed it, and walked back to his shower to get finished.

James felt confident about himself and walked to the barred door to get back to the main restroom where the inmates picked up clean uniforms and changed into them for the night. The officers let him through and he went to the restroom to receive his uniform. He got his uniform and looked for a place to change into it. Even though he felt good about himself, he still was quite modest and didn't like the idea of being stark naked around strangers. After waiting anxiously for a restroom stall to be vacant, finally one opened. He didn't see the group of inmates closing in on him from behind.

End Of Part VI

As James started to enter the stall, someone pulled his hair from behind, catching him off-guard and causing him to almost slip. He whirled around, seeing it was the small man he took the towel off of and two of the man's big buddies all fully clothed and ready for a fight. Clad only with the towel, James cast fearful glances at the two big men and received angry glances from both. Fearful for his life, he sheepishly handed the small man his towel as he covered himself up with his uniform, then he shrank back expecting the worst. Glaring at James, the small inmate swatted James in the face with the sopping wet towel making James flinch and cower as he expected a beating from the other two. The trio sensed his intense fear and, satisfied, walked away. James was fully defeated. He was a total coward who couldn't stick up for himself. Even the smallest of inmates could scare him to death. Depressed, he changed right in the open in the restroom, not caring about the embarrassment he had felt toward nudity before. His feeling of defeat covered any feeling of bashfulness or paranoia he had had before.

All day Jesse had tried to find out what James's deal was, and why she, a criminal, was being treated so nice. _This must be some deal_, she thought. _I know I wouldn't have made it if it weren't for James making this deal._ Every time a nurse would come in, Jesse would plead with the nurse to tell her what the deal was that she was being treated at the hospital, but all the nurses did was ignore her, fulfill their duties as nurses, and give painkillers to their bedridden patient.

Jesse and James both went to sleep that night miserable, each thinking about how the other was doing. James thought of Jesse as he tried to find a slightly comfortable position to sleep in with regards to his burning, stinging back. Jesse lie in her hospital bed thinking of where James could possibly have went while trying hard to stand her painful gunshot wound and broken leg. Meowth was miserable all day, but once the girl Meowth arrived that evening he sought to win her affection, and eventually curled up at night next to her. He had won her favor, and he was the only Team Rocket member to feel any bit of satisfaction in his efforts.

At five o' clock James was abruptly awakened and knocked out of his dilapidated old cot in his cell. He was chained up, given a tiny plate of mush for breakfast as on the first day, and brought outside with other inmates to dig the trench again. After hours of working on the digging of the trench, James and another inmate were given a different task.

"JAMES AND BUTCH, REPORT TO HEAD OFFICER FOR NEW TASK," the loudspeaker boomed.

At once James started off towards the officer mound, where the head officer sat on a folding chair with a drink, obviously impatient.

"I'm here," said James to the officer.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?" the officer questioned him angrily.

"I'm here, you know, for my new task."

"YOU LEFT SOMETHING OUT!" yelled the officer.

"Uh, um... I'm here...sir?" James timidly asked.

"Yes, now say it with some type of self dignity, inmate,"

"I'm here, sir," said James. He felt ashamed and beaten once again and the officer could tell he wasn't feeling too good about himself at this moment.

Just as James slumped over in self-disgust, a blue-haired man came over. The officer commanded for the man to hurry and so he ran over quickly and bumped into James. James looked up at the guy who ran into him and immediately recognized him as Butch, his rival Team Rocket member who paired with Cassidy, who always tried to overdo him and Jesse. He couldn't say anything, however. He and Butch had to get the order from the officer and he was going to start giving them any time. James and Butch received their orders. They were to haul a cart up the hill, full of supplies, to the nearby military center. Both sighed as they thought how easy it would be haul a little cart up that hill to a little stone building. Then they saw the cart. And the driver with the ten-foot horsewhip. And the halters they had to put on.

End Of Part VII

Jesse woke up and attempted to stretch but she felt a jutting pain all down her legs and up her back. She cried out in pain and tried to maybe massage her leg, but she couldn't. It was the leg in the cast, the leg she couldn't bend at all. In a short period of time, a few nurses came in, gave her painkillers and breakfast, and were on their way before she could ask any questions.

Meanwhile, James and Butch were strapped up side by side in the front of the cart. They looked at the hill in front of them then at each other as they figured they were going to die. As soon as a crack from the gigantic horsewhip sounded above their heads, they began to try to pull the heavy cart up the hill without much success. After twenty minutes of straining their bodies to pull and being licked by the stinging horsewhip, both James and Butch collapsed to the ground. The driver was upset and walked back over to the head officer to discuss how pathetic Butch and James were. During this time, James and Butch struck up a conversation.

"Hey, James. How did you get in here?" Butch asked.

"Oh, it's such a long story. Jesse was shot by the police, but I had gotten away. But when I saw her laying there so lifeless I jumped out of hiding, grabbed her, and made a deal with the police to treat her for her wounds, which were the shot wound and a broken leg. They agreed. Now I have to serve a sentence here and do whatever they tell me to do. But, as long as she's okay…. Uh, what's your story, Butch?"

"Eh. My story is pretty lousy too. Ya know, Cassidy and I aren't as close as you and Jesse are and we tend to fight all the time. Heck, we used to be real close and stuff, but now, we've floated apart. Now she thinks I don't like women and that I'm weird like that, mainly because of my voice, but I do like women, just not her. He he. You see, one time she caught me, uh, doing stuff with another woman, and she blew up at me and turned me over to the police blaming me for our heist earlier that day. I was sent to prison, and here I am. I still don't know how she was able to tell the police about that without being recognized as a member of Team Rocket."

"That stinks, Butch."

"You really like Jesse, don't you, James?"

James began to stammer, looking for any excuse. "Uh... what?"

"You got the hots for Jesse."

James automatically blushed. "She's my partner. Team Rocket must stick together and defend each other, no matter what."

"You know what I mean, James. You love--"

Their conversation was cut off by the driver coming back over to the cart and cracking his whip again to end the chatting.

"Shut up, you two!" he demanded. He went to the cart and unloaded almost three hundred pounds of food, leaving five hundred pounds of food, the three hundred-pound cart, and his two hundred-pound self for them to pull. The officer still expected two one-hundred-and-sixty pound men to haul a half-ton load up a hill.

The whip cracked again as the driver sat himself back up on the cart.

"GO!" he shouted. James and Butch immediately set to work again struggling to pull the cart up the hill. It moved a bit, but would only roll forward an inch, then roll backwards a foot. Butch turned around after a third cracking of the whip to speak to the lazy cart driver.

"Why don't you get off the cart? That's at least two hundred less pounds!" he asked. The driver thought for a second. He didn't want to leave the cart until he saw it was completely hopeless for James and Butch to pull the cart up the hill. A few more tries, and he was out of the cart.

"Now go forward, inmates!" he commanded. James and Butch pulled and pulled, putting all their weight into it, and the cart rolled up the hill a foot. But they had to hold that same amount of pressure to keep it there, or else exert more to make it move further up. James and Butch couldn't do that. They needed a break in between each pull.

Afternoon came around, and James and Butch had made some progress. The cart was up the hill about ten feet and couldn't roll back because the front wheel was on a ledge, which was fortunate for the two inmates. Both were finally allowed to return to their original job and two more candidates for pulling the cart the final distance were chosen.  
James collapsed, exhausted, on the ground. He lie there in the hot sun and was commanded to remove his shirt. As soon as he did so a strap cut across his back forcefully. He looked up to see another officer.

"Get up," the officer demanded. James attempted to rise, but his legs were like mush now and he fell back down. "I'm warning you, get up," the officer commanded again. It was near to impossible. James just couldn't get back up.

End Of Part VIII

Within a minute, another officer was there, standing over James.

"A weakling, I see? You will be taught to obey all orders to the best of your ability."

The officer and his partner yanked James off the ground and made him stand in an upright respectful position in front of them for a period of a few minutes.

"You will learn endurance and obey all commands. Now you will be punished for your recent disobedience." With this command the officer chained the frightened James to a pole and made him stand up straight next to the pole all day in the hot sun. And he received no water or breaks, he just stood all day crying to himself about his misery and constant misfortune.

Meowth had been sleeping peacefully next to his girlfriend when all of a sudden a Persian was thrown into the cage with him! At the exact sound of the Persian's claws hitting the metal of the cage, Meowth awoke with an immediate defensive start and prepared to strike the larger feline. He suspected this Persian was Team Rocket's boss's cat, the one who took his place. As his hair stood on end, he hissed menacingly at the confused Pokemon who instilled anger in his mind.

Candy awoke with a start to see her boyfriend cornering the big cat in the corner. The Persian hissed back then wondered why the heck he was even hated here. He communicated Pokemon to Meowth.

"Hey, why are you mad at me? I didn't do anything to you. Leave me alone!"

"Do you know Giovanni, Team Rocket's big boss?" Meowth asked back.

"Giovanni? No! I'm a stray!" Persian replied matter-of-factly.

Meowth felt a little foolish and laid back down with Candy, who rubbed his belly and told him not to worry so much.

"We all hate being here in this pound, but don't get too uptight about it, Meowth," she said soothingly to him in Pokemon language. Meowth's hair flattened down again and he was calm.

As the evening progressed, Jesse lie in pain but was treated quite well by the hospital staff. They gave her painkillers, a hearty breakfast, lunch, and dinner, and helped her with other aspects of her life in the hospital.

By the end of the workday, James was utterly miserable. He had turned pale and clammy and couldn't see straight any more.

The officer walked over to him and beseeched him, "So, have you learned your lesson, inmate? Are you sorry for your laziness, sorry enough that you won't do it again?"

"Yes, I learned my lesson. I'm sorry for being lazy and I won't do it again," James replied softly. He didn't need to be punished again. He bowed his head respectfully as the officer commanded him to go back with the other inmates to the shower.

As soon as he got his towel, soap, and rag, James headed back to his corner to get his shower over with as fast as he could. Still trying to cover up a bit, James successfully got through the whole shower. He went back to the main restroom and picked up his uniform to change. As soon as he had changed, the trio that bothered him yesterday were right in front of him. The small man stepped forward with a menacing look on his face and said to him, "You haven't paid fully for your mistake yesterday."

"What mistake? I didn't make any mistake yesterday."

"Oh, you make me sick, buddy."

End Of Part IX

The big guys stepped forward, grabbed James by his shoulders, and lifted him up to a nail on the wall. There they hung him by the back of his pants.

"Oh, no!" James cried. "Help me! Owwwww!"

As he despaired, he tried to squirm his way off the nail. His already aching rear end was killing him now. A rare anger rose in him toward the three men who bothered him. With a new strength, he managed to hoist himself off the nail and jump onto the floor. He had to get back at those guys. He saw them walking around in the other branch of the restroom, getting changed.

Full of wrath, James lunged at the small man, jumped on him, pulled him into a stall, shoved his head in the toilet bowl, and jammed the stall door closed. The small man yelled for his other two buddies to help him out against this crazy man. James saw the big guys coming at him and evaded their grasp. He ran a few yards away from one, and then ran full force at him and shoved him over. Still too angry to think, he stomped on the man's head until the big guy lost consciousness then plotted quickly a punishment for the other man. He pulled his shirt off and used it to try to suffocate the other man.

After he was satisfied with causing them all pain, he spit on them and threatened them, then walked proudly away to the officers. He was brought back to his cell and went to sleep happy with himself and wondering how Jesse was. He hadn't talked to her in two whole days and needed to know how she was doing.

Meowth spent the whole day chatting with Candy, and at the end of the day, they got together to be boyfriend/girlfriend. Meowth was extremely content and only once in a while wondered when he and his new love would be taken out of this place by Team Rocket. He slept in the far corner of the cage with his girlfriend. The pound wasn't so bad anyway. When he was with Team Rocket running here and there he never got a chance to meet up with a new mate. He would be staying in the pound for several months as the other Pokemon in the pound were adopted or brought into the pound community.

James had been in prison for several months while Jesse healed from her wounds. Unlike when he first was put in prison, James was a tougher man. At times during his confinement, he could stand things he would scream and cry during when he was on Team Rocket. This seldom happened, but when it did, James impressed himself. Meanwhile, Jesse lie in the hospital with her wounds, healing up for release. Anytime she needed extra care James would work harder that day to enable her to get it. Of course, nothing prepared James for what he was about to see….

End Of Part X

Around two weeks before Jesse was to be released from the hospital, James was moved from his usual work duties, physical labor around the building, to a juvenile class where inmates under 18 were learning how to better reenter into society. As soon as he sat down the first day in class, he was scared to death of the brutal men there, who stood in the four corners of the classroom staring grimly at the students. Of course, they did much worse things then this. When a male inmate would do something bad, such as talk loudly, throw things, fall asleep, not pay attention, or start a fight, he was brought up to the front of the class. There, the teacher would command them to fetch a paddle off the wall. The paddles were huge flat wooden boards with holes in them. Most of the inmates weighed less than 200 pounds, so the paddles were probably quite painful, they themselves weighing 3 pounds. A huge burly man would step out from one of the corners of the room and the inmate would hand the paddle to him. Then, the inmate would pull down his pants and bend over onto the desk in the front of the room for a paddling. This was not ordinary paddling. The paddlers were strong and powerful and hit with full force on the derrière of the unfortunate inmate. They would paddle at least 15 times, one time for each year of their age, but if the offender had not cried or yelped out by then, they'd keep going until they'd reach that goal. Then the inmates were sent back to their seats, humiliated in front of men and women.

The several people that James saw paddled were supposedly tough guys, but after around 8 swats, they all had yelled out or cried. Seeing this, James paid attention and didn't talk at all in class. The women in the class were scared to death also, and James couldn't help but wonder why they even went to the class; they seemed so quiet. He continued going to the classes 6 days a week, 6 hours a day, and then a little bit of physical labor inside the prison for the rest of the day until dinnertime.

Jesse was regaining health quickly and would soon be discharged from the hospital. However, the police warden at the prison felt she should have to go through the juvenile classes as with James to leave the prison. She was young yet and needed to be taught how to act the right way in society. She was released from the hospital and sent to James's prison, but the woman's section was brimming full. Instead, she was going to remain in James's cell. The guards suspected he was rather odd and he wouldn't try anything on her. Besides, she was his friend and he wouldn't abuse her. He had supported her the whole time she was in the hospital. They assumed it was an okay arrangement.

When Jessie was brought to the prison, it was the exact time that the juvenile classes were starting. The guards brought her there and she sat down amongst the other inmates. James walked in as usual but thought he had seen Jesse sitting in his usual spot. Nah, it couldn't be….

He looked again, and it was her! He ran over to the heavily drugged-up Jesse from hospital painkillers and hugged her. She realized it was her James and hugged him back.

"Oh, Jesse, it's you... you're okay!"

"Oh, I missed you, James!"

"I missed you too!"

All the pair could say were a few words of greeting, and then class began. James sat in the row beside Jesse's, a little bit behind her. The whole beginning of class he stared at the back of her, seeing she was alive and well and perfect again. Hopefully he'd see her every day in class.

Towards the middle of class, an inmate fell out of his desk after falling asleep and was brought up to the front of class for a paddling. James knew this guy. He was a toughie who always had gotten in fights during the trench-digging around the building. Now James would see this man take the test in front of the class. Meanwhile, Jesse stared in awe and shock as the accused inmate crept slowly to the front of the class. Obviously terrified, the inmate cringed as he trod to the paddles, pulled one down, and handed it to one of the big men. James was frightened as he saw the pallid, pitiful face of the 16-year-old who was always a bully in prison. At the moment this inmate named Jack was now a scared teenager.

Jack did what was commanded of him without a word, just a terrified silence. He bent over to be punished, but didn't want to pull down his pants. He had seen this new attractive woman in class, Jesse, and didn't like humiliation. After a yell from the big man with the paddle, he immediately obliged. After 6 whacks, Jack was howling with pain. After the required 16, his face was red-streaked with tears. Jesse and James watched intently as the inmate took his seat slowly, since his rear end was in utter pain. Jesse didn't even know why he had been punished; she thought of how stupid he was for just falling on the floor. Her painkillers were so strong she had seemingly lost all sense of reason.

Jesse thought of how long James may've been in prison while she was in the hospital. _Did the cops arrest him after I was hurt? Or before? Hmm…._ She assumed that she had been injured or something and brought to the hospital, and just now the cops discovered she was a member of Team Rocket. _Hmm… But how did they know I came from Team Rocket?_ She pondered and thought about this as the tall bearded teacher spoke to the class. What he was saying was boring, dull, common knowledge and she could only think about James. _I wonder how long James has had to be here in this lousy class. I can't believe I haven't died not getting to see him for so long! I missed him terribly. Well, at least he looks happy. I wonder if he has missed me as much as I've missed him._

End Of Part XI

Jesse loved James, but couldn't even put the word into her thoughts. She knew deep inside that she loved him, but she wondered why he had never made any sort of pass at her. He and she had been partners for so long, yet they never had gotten intimate. Of course, during this thinking, Jesse didn't consider the fact that she wouldn't let James get too close to her. She'd always slap him or punch him away and upset him. During this time of deep thinking, Jesse dozed off.

James had been staring at the back of Jesse's head the whole time and realized she had fell asleep. The worst thing in the world that could happen was she being caught and paddled in front of the whole class. She was all he had thought about and dreamed about being with, and if she got into trouble the first day, she could never forgive him for letting her do so. He figured she would definitely get busted if something didn't happen quick, and something bad did happen. He saw the teacher surveying the room slowly from left to right for sleepers, spotting Jesse, and then beginning to walk closer to Jesse to wake her up. The teacher would see him before he'd see her. James decided to take action for Jesse not to get punished, even though it may cost him a punishment, one he was terrified of.

In the midst of the teacher's speaking to the class during the surveillance, James yelled out loudly and rudely, "MAY I USE THE RESTROOM PLEASE?"

He yelled it out so loud that Jesse and another sleeper jolted up to look back at him. He had stood up and startled the teacher and the punisher men and they all cast stern glances at him. This loud command from such a formerly quiet inmate made the teacher completely disregard Jesse's sleeping in class. James was very frightened now, but tried his hardest not to show it. He wanted to impress Jesse. The teacher glared at James and called out his inmate number as he gestured for him to come to the front of the class.

" #18576…"

End Of Part XII

James stepped away from his seat and walked toward the front of the classroom to fetch the paddle. He slumped his shoulders in sheer depression as he mumbled his misfortunes.

"And all I wanted to do was use the restroom….hehe…." He forced a small laugh at his attention-grabbing act.

Soon, however, James's face turned pale as he approached the paddles. They were way bigger up close, and heavier-looking too. Weakly he removed the paddle from the wall and handed it to the waiting paddler. He glanced nervously at the class in front of him, soon to be behind him, looking at his bare bottom. Oh, the humiliation of it all! Well, at least he was taking the punishment for Jesse. He'd die if he had to see her getting punished. Before bending over, he looked at the paddle in the big man's hands and gulped. It was gigantic and it was going to make him cry. Oh, the humiliation!

Taking one last gulp, James got ready for the paddling. He felt the cold air of the prison basement across his now bare backside and attempted to prepare for the first blow. It came. A horrible burning stinging sensation running up and down his spine resulted from only one whack. The second and the third felt like a huge brand pressed against his rear end. He gritted his teeth to withstand the pain without a yelp. Somehow he hadn't made a sound yet. The next whack. Another whack, and another. James couldn't help but let a tiny yelp escape his quivering lips. Of course, to the man beating him, it wouldn't count as a yell or a cry to stop the paddling after his required 17. James could hear the class gasping as the man slammed the paddle as hard as he could. He was thankful that he really didn't have to use the restroom, for he would be doing it all over the floor.

James' bladder was near explosion by the 11th whack. His eyes were watering and his lip was bleeding from his biting on it. He couldn't cry. He just couldn't. And he knew that if he let out a fake yelp or cry on the 17th hit they'd keep going. And if he did cry it was utter humiliation in front of his one love, Jesse. He kept holding onto his sanity as the paddler whacked him over and over again. By the 15th whack, still hearing no loud yelp or crying from James, the paddler was determined to make him cry. He didn't just want a yelp from this rebel; he wanted a tear-streaked, humiliated face. For the next few whacks, he had to grunt; he was whacking so hard. By the 17th, James still wasn't budged. The man kept going. James knew he'd keep going. The class was awe-stricken by James's brevity and gasped loudly at each oncoming blow.

By the 24th whack, James couldn't take it. He'd had enough. He yelped openly, not able to hold in any more sounds. But the darn man kept going. Onto the 30th whack. James had been openly yelping and howling at each whack and wanted to go back to his seat. On the 31st paddle, he broke down and started sobbing. The paddler stopped the paddling, for James had finally given in. He was angry at the 17-year-old's standing up against him and whacked James over the head with his hand before James had pulled up his pants.

James merely cringed, fixed his pants, and slipped back into his seat while rubbing his burning rear end and holding himself. He had wanted to pretend like he really had had to go to the bathroom, and now he actually did have to go. As he tried to choke back the tears, he thought about how pathetic he must have seemed to Jesse. It made him cry even more. He silently cried until the end of class, as he shuffled to the restroom. The paddling really knocked his bladder out of whack.

After relieving himself, he was directed to the place where he'd be working for the rest of the night. As he walked into the room he was supposed to scrub the floor with, along with seven other inmates, he recognized the faces of three of the inmates in his class he was just paddled in. Instead of laughing at him, the three surrounded him and congratulated him on his victory against the paddler.

"Wow, that was impressive today in class! What's your name again?"

"James."

A tall skinny inmate also questioned.

"Dang, James, you stood up to the worst paddler there. No one can take more than 13 from him. I don't know how you made it so long without just bawling and sinking to the floor in a heap. Good job, man."

"Did you do that for the sleeping beauty in the 3rd row?" a muscular, stout prisoner asked.

"Hehe... Well..." James blushed.

"Why did you take that punishment for her? You don't even know her. She's hot, but not that hot to risk that for."

James grew angry.

"I wanted to take the punishment for her. Jesse's worth it to me! She and I have been partners in Team Rocket for years now! And she _is_ hot enough!" And with that James shoved him out of the way and walked over to get a scrub brush.

Dinner was served and James got to leave his duty for the night. On the way to the cafeteria, he bumped into Jesse.

"Oh, hello, Jesse, how are you?" he asked casually.

"Oh, James, you're the best!" Jesse threw her arms around him and gave him a big hug. "Thank you, for all it's worth. I'll have to make it up to you."

"Oh, it's nothing," James replied, and blushed. He could get used to this treatment from Jesse. They both walked side by side to the salad bar to get some unrecognizable mush.

After the glop had been dropped on their trays, they sat down on a bench and talked about their times without each other.

"Oh, Jesse, I was so depressed while I was here. I thought about you all the time, but that didn't make up for the fact that you weren't with me."

"Oh, heehee," Jesse giggled. "James, I can't believe you did that today in class. People were telling me that you did it so I wouldn't get in trouble for sleeping. Um, is that true?"

Jesse looked extremely curious.

End Of Part XIII

"I, uh, well...I..." James began to stammer and blush until his face was burning. He put his head down and shyly mumbled, "Well…yes…"

Jesse was taken aback. "James, you are so wonderful to me!" She gave him another hug. James smiled as he tried to grit his teeth to hold back the sound his stinging rear was causing him right now.

The rest of dinner Jesse and James sat side by side at the table both blushing uncontrollably.

After dinner both Jesse and James were led down the same aisle, down the same cellblock, to the same cell! Both looked at each other astonished as they stepped inside the cell and the small barred door clanged shut on them. James let himself smile a sly smile and Jesse saw this smile and wondered again. _I've always been in love with James, but always thought James couldn't feel that way towards m…. Oh, how could I have thought that! I don't think I ever gave him much of a chance to get close to me. But, what do I do? He just saved me from getting humiliated and had himself stand in my place. I'm not used to being open to this sort of thing now…._

James could tell Jesse was thinking hard. He began to think about things himself. _I wonder why they put a man and a woman into the same cell! Uh, oh…. Maybe they think I'm…. Well, I'm not!_

James sat down on his cot and Jessie plopped down on hers, parallel to his. Naughtily he pulled her bed closer to his and smiled a shy yet sly smile at her as his eyes pleaded for a chance of consideration from her. Jesse had just learned the whole truth. She was a bit frightened. James had been completely alright, after all this time….

She did her gut reaction. She slapped him across the face. James just sat there, dumbfounded, not having a single clue on why Jesse had rejected him so. As tears filled his eyes, he slunk under the covers, pulled his bed away from hers, closer to the wall, and turned away from her, attempting to hide them. He had to turn away from her, or he would really be embarrassed. He would never get to be with Jesse. _Why would she ever want me, anyway? I have nothing to offer…._ He cried silently in the darkness, angry but mainly heartbroken. _Right when she and I get to finally be alone… And I thought she was admitting the love I thought she had for me…._

Jesse looked at her red hand. She couldn't believe what she had just done. She had totally turned James against her. She had just made him believe that she didn't like him in that way. She had destroyed any hopeful relationship with him. She craned to look at James, but his face was buried in his pillow and he looked really upset. She had hurt him worse than she had ever hurt him before. As a tear rolled down her cheek, she lie down in bed face down and cried silently into her pillow.

The next morning James awoke to a tapping on the bars, the signal to get up. Without waking Jesse, he left quickly to go to class. Jesse was awoken a few seconds later and seeing that James wasn't there, she started to cry again. She had to stop crying. She had to show her nasty, spiteful, usual face. She headed into class just like yesterday.

As the inmates entered the classroom, James slumped over dejectedly. Rejected by the only person he lived for! It was too much again for him to bear. He felt his eyes start to water. As Jesse entered the room he pretended to sneeze, as if a first sneeze had caused his eyes to water. Jesse saw James's face and became saddened. She sat down glumly in the same seat as she had yesterday and put her head down.

End Of Part XIV

Class began. Jesse paid attention in class and tried not to think about her mutilation of a beautiful love about to emerge between her and James. Class went slowly. James hated the thought of rejection by the woman he lived for. Even though he hated thinking about it more than anything else, he still thought about it all day. An inmate was paddled for breaking off a piece of his desk after flunking a test and as Jesse watched him, she saw poor James from yesterday morning putting his self-respect and reputation on the line for HER. And she had just hit him. _How stupid I am! I just have to make it up to him!_

Class ended and a couple of inmates followed Jesse out of class. "You are beautiful, honey-bunny," one commented. Jesse slammed him with her elbow.

"I'll help you calm down, m'lady," another said. Jesse knocked him out. She liked the attention, but James, the James she wanted the attention from, was ignoring her.

After ridding herself of the guys who had followed her, Jesse looked around nervously for James. He wasn't in sight. After a quick shove from a guard, Jesse went to her other duties. James came out from around the corner he was watching Jesse from. _Well, at least she's not after another man…_ James then went to his duties.

At dinner the two didn't see each other, although they both were looking.

That night they both headed back to their cell. James was in the cell first. He lied down on his belly and attempted to fall asleep before Jesse arrived. Jesse was there a few minutes later. She saw the resting figure of James under the blankets and felt sorry for him. Three inmates had told her stories about James thinking she was worth the punishment he had received yesterday and thinking she was hot. After around a half hour of lying awake in bed thinking, Jesse decided to try and make it up to James. She thought of a nice gesture. She got out of bed and slowly pushed her bed up against James's until they were touching. It was a good thing. James would know what she had done and would appreciate it and forgive her.

The next morning James awoke to Jesse sleeping right beside him on his bed! She must have pushed the beds together, because he knew he hadn't done it. He had had his arm around her! As he slowly removed his arm from around her waist, she rolled towards him up against his body, sighing happily as if in a dream. Realizing it was still an hour and a half before wakeup, James set his watch for 10 minutes before wakeup so as to get away with sleeping so near to her when the guards came round, so maybe, just maybe, it could happen again.

Jesse felt a warm sensation as she drifted in and out of sleep. She felt as if James was close to her, very close, so close she could feel him breathing softly in her hair. After more dreamy thoughts, she drifted back into her peaceful sleep.

James's alarm went off at the desired time and he awoke, hoping so desperately that he could spend more time with her. Sighing sadly, he realized that he couldn't, so he softly pushed her bed back away without awakening her and lied back down in bed to pretend he had never been awake in the first place. The guard came as always to bang on the bars for wakeup. James emerged from the cot to head off to the juvenile class. He wanted to stay to wake Jesse up, but was shoved through the open cell door by the guard before he could do anything. Jesse was awoken a few seconds later, but didn't get to even catch a glimpse of him. She was abruptly shoved through the cell door to go to class.

End Of Part XV

James sat down in class, thinking about what had happened last night. He was so excited about it that he couldn't concentrate in class. Jesse arrived and sat down after seeing a smiling James look at her and wave. She waved back at him as she successfully concealed any emotions she was feeling strongly at the moment. Confusion.

_Why did he push the beds away from each other? Hmm…. Oh, maybe he did it so the guards wouldn't catch him and me together like we were! He thinks more logically than I thought he could!_

After a long, boring class, Jesse and James were sent to their work duties. James was sent outside this time, out to the digging of the trenches again. Jesse, however, was sent to a coed work assignment of scrubbing out toilets. Surprisingly, she found she was standing next to someone she recognized - Butch! The Butch from Team Rocket with a partner she hated - Cassidy. But Butch was okay. Butch looked around, spotted her too, and then began a conversation with her.

"Jesse! How are you doing? This is great! You really aren't dead!" Butch said.

"Uh, who said that?" Jesse asked, disbelieving.

"Oh, everyone in Team Rocket was talking about it. You hardly had any chance of making it, and if the cops would have left you there like they had originally planned to, you wouldn't be here today. James is the one that told me that you were alright."

"Why did they change their minds?" Jesse was very curious now. She had to know.

"Well, James told me..." Just as Butch was about to tell her, he was grabbed by the neck of his shirt and picked up by a huge prison guard. "Get to work, inmate, or else," he commanded of Butch.

Jesse could see that Butch was scared to death of this man. He stayed straight as a pole as he was suspended a half foot in the air. When he was finally set back down he regained composure and sighed deeply. The guard unexpectedly grabbed the back of Butch's shirt and hauled him down the hallway to a new work area. Jesse stood angrily as he was dragged away.

"I DIDN'T GET TO FIND OUT WHAT HE WAS GOING TO SAY!" she shouted angrily out loud, loud enough for the guard to hear.

And hear her he did. As soon as the last word left her mouth, the guard jerked around, pushed Butch away like a pesky fly, and glared down Jesse with his full height and power. Jesse immediately regretted what she had said. She backed up slowly towards the concrete wall as the guard slowly and menacingly approached. He came towards her faster and faster until he was right in her face. Jesse was frightened to death by this huge man in front of her. She looked around for an escape route, but found none. She could feel the blood draining from her face and her skin go clammy. The man cornered her up against the wall and stood a few inches from her as he yelled in her face.

"You, inmate, you will be punished for your smart-talking tomorrow! You will be whacked in your juvenile class tomorrow!" Jesse tried to stutter in. "And there will be no exceptions!"

As the guard walked away, Jesse could feel tears coming on. She had never cried when threatened physically before. She had never been threatened physically before. Feeling very alone and vulnerable, Jesse sat down glumly and cried.

End Of Part XVI

James was tired of the trench-digging work and could hardly bear being yelled at any more. He worked in the blistering heat of the afternoon alongside murderers and bounty hunters. _I don't belong here. Maybe I am part of a notorious organization, but I most certainly don't act like I'm from it. Jessie and I have never stolen any Pokemon successfully. James thought about how lousy Team Rocket worked out._ And Giovanni, their boss, wouldn't even let them out for fear that he'd be discovered and tracked down by the police. He, Jesse, and Butch were stuck here. What had ever happened to Meowth? James realized he hadn't thought of Meowth hardly at all in these past several months of prison. Where was he sent? If it was the pound, was he adopted? If it was anywhere else, was he still alive? Team Rocket won't be the same without him. James felt depressed and longed for any way out of prison. He knew Jesse was alright, but Meowth was a member of his team too.

Meowth had been in the pound for many months. He missed Jesse, James, and Team Rocket and never got any exercise. Candy had almost been adopted three times. Each time the pound person would reach down into the cage to grab Candy, Meowth would claw at him and go to drastic measures so she wouldn't have to leave him. As the months progressed, the other animals came and went and Meowth and his girlfriend spent all their time together. Even the Persians had no chance; Meowth was Candy's true love. After several months with Candy, Meowth wondered if maybe she was going to have his litter.

Since James had outdoor duty, he didn't get lunch in the mess hall with everyone else. With Jesse. He had to eat some limp sandwiches leftover from yesterday's meal. He wondered where his Team Rocket uniform had went. He also wondered when he and Jesse would be freed from this prison. He had agreed to carry out his sentence, yes, but Jesse was healthy and healed now. Would they be keeping him here forever?

After a long day of work duties for both Jesse and James, they were sent to the showers and then to bed. Jesse got to the cell first and began to cry at the thought of her being whacked tomorrow. Oh, the humiliation of it all!

James entered the room and saw that something was not right. Jesse was crying! But, Jesse never actually cried though. That was his job. He walked over to Jesse quickly and touched her back as she sat facing the wall.

"What's wrong, Jesse? What happened?"

Jesse immediately felt embarrassed. This was the first time James had actually caught her crying over something. She gave him the gesture that it was nothing, but James did not believe it. He sat down on the other side of the bed, and turned around to face the back of her. Gently, he placed his hands on her shoulders as he whispered the question again in her ear.

"Jesse, you can tell me what's wrong. I want to help you..."

Jesse bowed her head down as she sighed.

"Th-they...are going...to whack...me tomorrow!"

She began to cry again. James took this as a shock, then he felt extreme pity for Jesse.

"Oh, Jesse, I…don't think they…paddle girls in class. You won't get the men's punishment."

He got a sudden urge to hug Jesse, and he didn't fight that urge. He wrapped his arms around her waist and rocked her as he tried to comfort her. Jesse didn't fight back or resist. She let him rock her, and eventually her sobs subsided. She lay in his arms and fell asleep. Once James realized she was sleeping, he carried her to his bed, laid her down, and slept next to her on his bed. Both Rockets fell into a deep sleep.

Their sleep was so deep that they had not moved at all that night, except to snuggle closer. That morning when the guard came for wakeup, he saw that the two inmates were sleeping together and only thought the worst. He came into the room with his club and slammed James in the back with it. James awoke with a start and whirled around to have the club slam across his stomach. He doubled over in pain as he glared at the guard. Jesse started to awake and stared frightened at the guard. The guard then grabbed James by the hair and dragged him out of the cell. Once in the hallway, he pushed James up against the wall and handcuffed him. After speaking to other guards about a suitable punishment for the inmate, he led him to a dark small room at the far end of the hallway, uncuffed him, and threw him in. James was now in solitary confinement awaiting his punishment.

End Of Part XVII


	2. Part XVII - End

Part XVIII

After putting James in a cell, the guard walked back to Jesse's cell. He yelled at her, "Since we do not have any other ideas for you, you will have your hair cut off."

Jesse looked up at the man with sheer terror and fell at his knees, pleading with him. She had broken down completely.

"Please don't cut my hair. Anything but that, please…."

The guard did not sympathize but instead offered another solution.

"If you don't want your hair cut, we can always have your boyfriend hanged instead. Would that be alright?" Jesse could not believe her ears. James, hanged? For just them sleeping, clothed, in a bed?

"No, that would not be alright," she said.

As the minutes passed like hours, James sat glumly in his tiny cell painted black. There weren't any cots or beds in his cell, so he could only sit on the floor. A grimy toilet was all that furnished the room. James sat and thought. _What is to become of Jesse? What is to become of me? We didn't even do anything wrong. Now we'll never be together again. This is probably death row for me. _James sat nervously awaiting his fate. It came. Two guards unlocked the barred cell door and each grabbed James by one of his shoulders. Once in the hallway, he was cuffed again, this time in the front of his body. Stiff with fear, James was led down the stairs, down to the basement, into a large, high-ceilinged room where a doctor and a few of the guards and cops were waiting. As his eyes adjusted to the strange lighting of the room, he spotted a caning trestle in the center of the room. He then knew what his punishment would be-the worst punishment he could get.

After the cops and guards prepared James for his caning, the torture started. During each stroke of the rattan, James screamed for mercy and writhed in utter terrible pain. He was literally going through hell during the caning. His skin on his bare bottom was getting ripped to shreds and he could feel every nerve in his body feeling it.

Jesse had had a bit of work duty in the basement that morning and heard screams coming from the room at the end of the corridor. She became extremely curious as to who might be screaming and what was going on. There had been a loud cracking sound, and screams afterwards. Cautiously she sneaked down the hallway and peeped into the tiny window at the center of the door to see what was going on. She saw a man bending over a trestle, totally naked. There was an officer behind him with a cane, and he was preparing to strike the man again. A caning was taking place. She had heard the caning was the worst punishment a man could receive. The pain was supposedly excruciating and made men beg for mercy, faint, etc. The pitiful man on the trestle was screaming and writhing to get away. There were tall black boots on the floor. There was a red rose next to the boots. The man had purplish hair. The man was James!

End Of Part XVIII

"Five!" br br James's body went completely limp, a ruddy mass of pain bent over a trestle. The next blow caused his body to shake involuntarily as he felt the sting spread throughout his body. I'm going to die! This is it! James had grown frantic and formed pictures in his head of him dying. Before the next blow was to come, the doctor walked over to the terrified teenager and talked to him as he took his pulse.

"You have three more strokes to go. You're more than halfway through," he said to James consolingly. James tried to speak between sobs.

"I…I…I can't…take…this…. Please…make…them…stop…. I've learned…my…lesson…."

Jesse looked at her partner being beat senselessly by the officer, but couldn't stand to watch it anymore. Crying for her poor James being caned, she got back to work before she was spotted.

"Six!"

The rattan slammed again. The caning officer showed no mercy. James felt like his body was going to explode. He slumped over and fainted while on the trestle. Stroke seven was called out and the caning officer hit him again to see if he would scream, because if he were conscious, he would. He didn't. He was out cold. The officials, guards and doctors could see it was too much pain for him to bear. They revived him quickly and agreed that the caning was over. However, when James came to, he feared more. Sheer terror showed in his eyes as he awoke to the guards surrounding him. In vain, he tried to rip off the straps. A prison guard got right in his face.

"Stop kicking so we can untie you."

James cried as he was untied. As soon as his wrist straps were taken off, he fell on his face, still conscious. The guards undid his ankle straps, for his ankles were now bent at an odd angle to his body. Cautiously the guards picked him off the floor. They then put his clothes back on, since he was still frozen with fear. Solemnly they carried him, now losing consciousness, back to his cell and lay him on his back on a small crappy cot they had set up for his wounds to heal better.

James awoke screaming and flipping over onto his stomach. An intense pain had spread up and down his back in a burning frenzy, but it mainly concentrated around his bottom. He was now on his belly, and could feel the burning take control of anything he could have had his mind on. His eyes ached, but not half as much as the rest of his body. After lying alone for hours in the blackness of the solitary confinement room crying, he fell into a troubled sleep.

End Of Part XVIV

Meowth and Candy were expecting a litter! Team Rocket's feline pokemon had never felt so proud in his life. After he had found out this information, he and Candy had parties every day. Every day until one fateful day. Meowth had been soundly sleeping by his love and someone grabbed her during his reverie and took her away from him. She had been adopted and he wasn't even able to protect her. She was gone! Once this information hit him, Meowth stopped eating, cried, and lay in the corner of his cage all day and all night.

Jesse would have to go to class tomorrow. She had extra work duties today, since the coed-sleeping incident. All day she thought of how James took the caning. Was it really as bad as he made it look? Or was it just James's character to blow things out of proportion? If he had elevated the incident, it would prove that he could never be Jesse's protector. Jesse would always be the planner and the leader, but she was sick of that role and needed to be the passive one for once. The person being protected and led.

James woke up the next morning with his whole body an aching mess. He attempted to squirm off his cot, but could barely move. He thought of how he was always the one to get in trouble for minor wrongdoings, and Jesse hadn't even been punished one time! As he struggled to move himself, he thought of the unfairness of life for him. _Jesse's probably in the cell still. I'll bet she didn't have to do anything as a punishment. And that whacking, humph, all they'll probably do is hit her across the hand with a ruler or something._ Over a short time period, James was jealous of Jesse.

Jesse was awaken by a prison guard and taken to class. She was extremely nervous, for today she would receive her "whacking." After class, her hair was to be cut off. Entering the class, she spotted Butch, and sat down across from him.

"Hey, Butch, how are you?"

"I'm okay. Where were you yesterday?"

"Oh, long story. I was on work duty for it."

"For what?"

"It's a long story. I'll tell you later."

As class began, the door opened and James was dragged in by two prison guards hoisting up his shoulders. Everyone turned to look as a pillow was set on a desk's chair and James was sat down roughly on the seat. Jesse could see that James was clenching his teeth together so as not to yell out, but even so, he let out a whimper. James was embarrassed. He put his head down and sighed exasperatingly while trying to sit lightly on the seat. He couldn't help having his eyes water, and they began to pour out tears after five minutes of him sitting. It wasn't just because he was depressed; he was in evident terrible pain.

After James was seated and the class was turned back around to the front, Jesse was called up to the center of class. _Oh, crap. I don't want to die!_ her brain shouted. This time, however, as she walked up slowly, the teacher grabbed a switch instead. He motioned for her to hold out her hands, so she did. Seven hard but quick hits on her hand with the switch, and she was done.

As she was being punished, she could see how pathetic this situation looked. She wasn't saying a word, and it was just like a rap on the hand. She tried to hold back her sigh of relief as she walked back to her seat. James's jaw dropped. _I went through 30 whacks with the paddle to prevent her from receiving that punishment? Well, at least I was seen as a hero for a few hours…._

End Of Part XX

All through class James clenched his teeth and covered his face with his hands as curious classmates turned around to look. His caning wounds were seeping through the wrappings and his pillow he sat on got soaked. Occasionally during class James would be picked on by the teacher: "What's wrong, you in first row, last seat?" and he would just shake his head nervously and go back to thinking about the pain he was in. He also wondered how disgusting the wounds looked, for he could feel that uncomfortable seepage wetting the pillow he had to sit on during class. One person had been paddled today. During the paddling the kid yelled and whined so much that James let out a loud scoff at him. Some people turned around wondering why he did so, but they didn't know that James had been beaten so much harder and didn't think much of the "baby paddling" any more. Paddling didn't hold any fear for James now. That is, of course, slightly wrong, because James did not want to be paddled today. He would've passed out from the pain on his already deep wounds.

Once class was dismissed, James was taken to a small room full of police officers and guards. He slumped his back in despair as he was seated at a chair on the wet pillow from class in the center of the room. As always, the pain was excruciating.

"I don't want to sit down! Please let me stand!" James beseeched the officers.

At his request, two guards yanked the seat out from underneath him, causing him to fall hard on his rear end. He began to moan as he was pulled off the floor and stood up. A head officer spoke first to him.

"Now, James, you made a deal with us that you would tell us anything about Team Rocket that we wanted to know."

"Umm… that's right…." James murmured sadly.

"Now you tell us what you know," the cop said. James stood in silence.

After a few seconds that seemed like hours to him, he spoke up.

"Uh, what am I supposed to say?"

The guards gave him nasty looks as the head officer spoke.

"Okay. What is Team Rocket's leader's name?"

"Giovanni…." James felt ashamed. Everyone in Team Rocket would now hate him if he ever got out of prison alive.

"Where is their next heist to take place?"

James sighed. "I don't know…. I haven't been on the outside for several months. I lost track."

Feeling a bit brave, he added, "By the way, when will I be allowed to leave here?"

The response was a kick in the rear end from an angry guard. The guards knew his weak spot and would be able to get answers out of him easily. James tripped forward, whimpering and grabbing his sore seat. He had come very close to falling, but somehow he kept his balance.

"James, you will only leave here when we let you leave."

"Is there any way I can speed up that process?"

"No. There are many ways you can make it longer, however."

James's face turned pale. Was he ever going to leave this prison?

End Of Part XXI

Jesse was escorted by guards to the outside of the classroom. One had a gigantic pair of scissors. When Jesse first spotted them her eyes grew large and frightened and she tried to jerk away from the guards. It didn't work. She was led into a small room and made to sit down in a chair.

"He he. Any last wishes, inmate?" the guard with the scissors chuckled.

"Oh, please don't cut my hair. Isn't there any alternative to this? It'll take years for my hair to grow back out to what length it is now."

"No, there is no alternative. This is the only way you will learn your lesson."

Another guard spoke up.

"Oh, I thought of an alternative. Your boyfriend will be paddled in front of class tomorrow instead of you having to cut off your hair. He he. Would that punishment be okay?"

Jesse sighed. It would be totally wrong to have James take yet another punishment. He had been caned; that was already too much for him to bear. Besides, she was the one who had done wrong.

"No, it wouldn't be okay," she murmured. She bowed her head slightly and tried to prepare her emotions as her hair was snipped off at shoulder length by the nasty guard.

After telling the officers some more about Team Rocket, including Butch and Cassidy, James was brought back to his cell, exhausted. He paced back and forth, wondering what was to become of him and Jesse.

Jesse was sent bawling to her work duties. Again, it was near Butch. Immediately she thought of what she had tried to ask him before the guard grabbed him.

"Butch, why am I not dead?"

Butch replied softly.

"Well, ya see, James told me you were lying there in the meadow, having been shot, and Meowth had been caged by the cops. Your partner escaped up into a bunch of trees and wasn't spotted. He saw you a few seconds later, however, so he jumped down out of hiding and picked you up. He must've really thought you were near death, for he walked up behind the police and begged them to help you. At first, they refused and prepared to shoot him. He then offered a deal to them, that they could sentence him and do whatever to him in exchange for your recovery. He's quite the fool, I must say. Dumb sap."

For once, Jesse was utterly speechless. All she could was stutter in disbelief. James was doing this all for her! James had been imprisoned, beaten, tortured, all for her to get well. And he didn't even tell her about it! Jesse felt her deep love for James suddenly rise into her throat.

"Oh, thank you so much for telling me, Butch!"

Jesse had a plan. She would act horribly in work duties today and then be moved down to James's section of prison. Perhaps the guards would forget that James was in that room and throw her in there. She was going to get with him somehow.

End Of Part XXII

During scrubbing duties Jesse spilt the soap bucket all over the floor and left it there. After a small reprimand, she knew it took more than that to get her into solitary confinement. All day she did things against the rules, like smarting off, scuffing the walls, and throwing food in the lunch room until eventually, by nightfall, her bad behavior had brought her down to the solitary confinement. As she was led down the hall, handcuffed and struggling to get away, Jesse was stopped at the solitary confinement room. She knew that the guard who brought her down here did not know someone was already in the pitch-black room. He wasn't the one that had taken James away from the room they were both in. After being uncuffed, Jesse was tossed into the room within inches of the sleeping James. The guard did not see him, so he suspected that no one was there.

After the guard had left, Jesse tried to gently wake James by stroking her hand through his hair. After a few minutes, James began to open his eyes. He jerked up, whirling around in the blackness wondering who it was.

"Hello? Is someone h-here?" he choked out.

"Yes, it's Jesse," she replied sweetly to him.

"I…can't see you," he said.

Jesse stood up. She saw the slit that food came through and opened it up. She then stuck his toothbrush that she found under it so it would stay open. No guards would be coming around now. It was lights out for the prisoners. Of course, every night the hall light was left on so a light did come through the slit and cast a beam of light across James's face.

"Oh, it's been five hours since I've seen light," he sighed. He looked at the shadow figure in front of him. "That's really you, Jesse?" he questioned.

"Yes, what's wrong?"

"Wh-what happened to your hair?"

Jesse sighed sadly. "They cut it off as a punishment." She squatted down by him and put a hand to his face. "But my punishment is nothing compared to what you had to go through."

"Wh-what do you mean?" James asked nervously. He didn't want Jesse to know about that caning incident, etc.

Jesse didn't want to blurt out right away. "Your…caning you had to go through." James let out a sigh.

"Ohhhh, that…." he murmured. Jesse softly rubbed the side of James's face as he appeared to be calming down.

"I feel so bad for you," she told him. "Let me help you with it. Obviously the doctors haven't done enough to make it heal fast."

"Oh, no, don't do that. It's not something anyone needs to see."

"James, I will make you feel better. I want to see you well again."

James let out another weak "no", but Jesse wasn't about to listen. She hated seeing James in pain like this and she wanted at least to visualize what this must have been like for him.

As James lie timidly resisting her, Jesse slowly got him to let her see his wound. He painstakingly revealed the terrible cuts as Jesse looked on, gaping.

Once the wounds were showing enough, Jesse examined the marks from where she was now sitting. He had six extremely visible cuts sliced across his skin, obviously infected. It was very painful for James, she could see, and she knew she wouldn't be able to stand it if she had been caned.

As he lie on his belly half-asleep now, Jesse got up and went over to the small basin with a piece she ripped off her sleeve. After dipping it in the water and wringing it out, Jesse went back over to James. She spotted the iodine and cotton swabs the doctors put on his wounds, and began to attempt to clean out the wounds with the water and iodine. James muffled his first yelp in the pillow, but after that one, he wasn't hurting anymore. Almost all night Jesse cleaned up her partner's wounds. She realized how well built James was, anything but soft and wimpy. By the crack of dawn she had fallen asleep on the floor next to James's cot.

A few hours before the wakeup, James awoke, freshly bandaged and comfortable. He saw Jesse next to him and realized both of them would probably be killed when the guard came by. He would probably be caned again, and die on the trestle, and she would be… He didn't even want to think about the consequences. The guard that placed him in here would be on duty this morning. _I may not get in much trouble, but Jesse…._

End Of Part XXIII

As James tossed and turned on his bed, thinking about what to do, Jesse awoke. She spotted the troubled James and asked him, "What's the matter, James?"

"Oh, we are going to be in so much trouble tomorrow. We are going to die." He cringed for the hit from Jesse; however, Jesse didn't hit him this time. Instead, she touched his arm as she reassured him.

"Let's escape today, James! We don't have to stay here any longer!"

James sighed. "I wish that were true…."

Jesse blurted, "I don't want us to be punished the next time we sleep in the same bed!" The comment caused James to lift his head up and smile.

"Really? There's a next time?"

The guard that placed James in solitary confinement was on his way to releasing James from prison. He had paid his dues, done his time, and agreed to the terms. His girlfriend/partner would be released also today, but he would release her second, for he didn't know where she was moved to yesterday evening. James had followed the agreement; the police would follow it too. As he searched through the keys on his keyring, he found the one to James's cell and went to slip it in the door….

Jesse heard the sound of the guard stopped at the door. James heard the same sound. James was the most terrified he had ever been in his whole life, but he did not want to show it this time. He began to sit up in bed so he could blame himself for the coed solitary confinement cell. Jesse would not let this happen. She immediately knocked James out cold and stood up in front of his unconscious body, waiting for the guard to open the door.

As the door creaked open, Jesse became paralyzed with fear. The guard's huge body was in the door opening and spotting the two in the room. His face turned into an angry glare as Jesse started to babble to him.

"You see, this is all my fault. My fault. I wanted to help—fix—his wounds." She pointed to James, who looked asleep. "H-he had nothing to do with this. I am the only one who deserves a punishm-ment, sir."

End Of Part XXIV

Forgetting about the release, the guard grabbed Jesse and yanked her roughly out of the cell as James came to. Half-dazed, he glanced up to see Jesse being dragged out of the room while still accusing herself of the scheme. He attempted to run out of the cell to save Jesse but the guard slammed the cell door shut on him. He sobbed pitifully as the truth hit him - Jesse would probably be killed.

Jesse was brought down to a room full of stern-looking officers and seated handcuffed on a chair in the center. Immediately she was surrounded and the men began to throw questions at her from all directions.

The next guard to come around to the cells for wakeup took James out of his cell to let him go to morning class. As James headed down the stairs, he heard a sound coming from the room that he had been questioned in. Apparently, the men were questioning someone else. He could hear the voice of the questioned. It was Jesse, and from where he was, it was barely audible. Instead of going to the left down the hallway to class, James went to the right to where Jesse's room was. He put his ear close to the door to listen in on the conversation.

"So you say that it was your idea that you get into the male inmate's cell?"

"Yes, I wanted to see him."

"And how did you do this?"

"I behaved badly enough to be sent to solitary so I'd accidentally get put in his cell."

"Why did you do this?"

"Well…. to help…" Jesse began to stammer. James could hear that she was thinking deeply about what to say. He could hardly believe his ears so far. Jesse, to want to be in a room with him? To act badly on purpose? And her reason for this had to be interesting. What was he to hear next?

"Answer us, inmate. That's not enough"

"Well, that and I had just found out that he loves me back."

James crumpled to the floor. She had learned about his deal then. Butch must've told her. But why did she say "back?"

"What do you mean by that?" an officer asked her.

"I have always loved him, but had never told him. I had just learned that he had himself arrested and tortured so that the wounds I received from a policeman's gun could heal and I would live. Now I know the truth about how he feels about me, so I felt that I could tell him my true feelings towards him as soon as possible."

Jesse sighed loudly in the room. James didn't get to hear it. He had fallen on the floor and could hardly breathe. Tears were in his eyes and a sad smile was on his face. Now he had found out this, but what was to happen to her? He wanted so badly to spend this bright future with her, and he wasn't thinking it was going to happen.

End Of Part XXV

The policemen were all choking up from this confession of love. Jesse went on.

"James made the ultimate sacrifice. I would be willing to make one for him, too, but I don't know if I can stand any more time without him. Please don't punish him for something I did."

The head police official stepped forward. "He has done his time, more than he agreed on. You and he have a long future ahead. This prison will not keep you two here any longer. I believe both of you have learned your lessons."

A guard uncuffed her as she was escorted to the door. As the guards attempted to open the door to the room, it wouldn't budge. James was lying against it.

After getting James up, the guards and officials told him about the release. His reply was a big hug with Jesse and another fainting spell.

James and Jesse were given back their torn up, tattered uniforms, but didn't take them. They held hands as they left the prison. Once the doors were shut behind them and they were completely out of the prison, they shared a passionate kiss and continued hugging. Both Jesse and James were the happiest they had ever been in their lives. Now they could be together to do whatever they wanted to do freely.

Before rescuing Meowth from the pound, however, Jesse and James wanted some privacy so they could actually get intimate. After strolling happily away from the prison, hand in hand, the couple found an empty cabin at a campground for scouts.

"Jesse, would you like to stay here for the night?"

"That would be great, James."

"May I ask you a question?"

"Yes, of course you may."

"Did you actually try to get punished just to be with me?"

Jesse blushed. "Yeah, I missed you."

After James picked the lock on the door and opened it for his love, she closed it behind him and locked it. James gave her a curious look with a hint of slyness, a look that asked her if it was okay for him to want to be with her tonight. She smiled back at him and nodded.

End Of Part XXVI

Simultaneously Jesse and James began removing each other's torn prison duds as they stayed in a lip lock. For once, James was the aggressor, and he made his first time his best time. After the two crawled under the covers, the secret longing for each other both had felt came out into the open, and their togetherness became a reality. Both had never done this type of thing before, but were willing to learn together and share their love for each other in this everlasting way. James opened the doors and let his passion and romantic feelings spill out all around his Jesse. He whispered tender things to her as they held each other closely. The couple made love for hours and took breaks only to tell each other how much they had desired each other. Jesse's once seemingly frozen heart burst forth fully onto James.

"James, I love you so much. Ever since I first met you at Pokemon Tech, I have been in love with you. You mean the world to me."

James was pleasantly shocked. "…Really, Jesse?"

"Yes, and I had always covered it up with my nastiness because I just hoped that you'd be the first to say something about romance. Since you didn't, I didn't think you had those feelings about me. But, I see that you DO love me, because of the touching things you have done, the most wonderful things you could've ever done for me, for anyone." Jesse blushed and stroked James's hair gently.

"Oh, I have never been happier in my life! You have made my life worth living, Jesse!" James exclaimed.

During this time of bliss, Jesse thought of nothing but James, and James thought of nothing but Jesse. The cold cabin they had entered became a hot room of intense feeling.

By morning, both were exhausted but happy. They tried to decide what to do.

"Should we get Meowth out of the pound, James?"

"Not just yet. Let's go buy something to wear or eat before we go get him."

"Alright."

Jesse and James held hands and kissed every ten steps or so as they walked towards town. When they arrived downtown, James wanted to grab some clothing somewhere.

"But do you have any money to buy clothes, James?"

"I… think I might…."

James fumbled in his pockets. Not a cent.

"Well, maybe we could, uh, steal some then," Jesse commented.

Jesse must've added just the right amount of sarcasm to her voice, for James was overcome with his love for her. He grabbed her around the waist and gave her a soft, passionate kiss as he cradled her body in his arms. People driving by saw the much-in-love couple and threw money at them. Jesse and James were too busy with each other to see the money, but people continued to throw money.

Soon, a pile of quarters, dimes, and nickels lay at Jesse and James's feet.

After their 10-minute kissing session, they looked down and realized they were surrounded by money. Frantically, both dropped to their knees and began counting the change. When they were done, they found they had collected 10 dollars. They shared another kiss then headed down to a local restaurant. Longing for real food, Jesse and James ordered a small but delicious meal. Before James took the first bite, he stood up quickly and startled Jesse. Seeing the look on Jesse's face, James began to explain.

"Hey, I will be right back, Jesse, if that's okay with you?"

"Of course it is. Take as much time as you need."

End Of Part XXVII

James ran quickly out the restaurant door, surprising Jesse. She had thought he was going to get seconds or use the restroom. James ran next door to a jewelry store. He brought along $5.00, the remainder of the money, and asked the clerk for a ring of that value.

"I'm sorry, sir, but we don't have any $5.00 rings here."

"Well, do you have any other inexpensive rings?"

"We have this copper ring for $8.00."

"Uh…" James fumbled in his pockets. Only $5.00. "Would it be a fair trade if I gave you this $5.00 along with my watch?"

The clerk looked confused, then agreed. "Alright, sir…."

After his ring was packaged, James thanked the man, grabbed the bag, and ran back to the store.

"Hey, Jesse, did I keep you long?"

"No, it's okay. What'd you do?"

Instead of answering, though, James dropped to one knee beside Jesse. As he pulled the ring out of the bag, he took her hand in his.

"I've been waiting a long time to ask this. Jessica, will you marry me?"

Jesse blushed uncontrollably and beamed. "Oh, James, yes, I will."

As James slipped the copper ring on her finger, they shared another long kiss. All the customers and waiters in the restaurant clapped and whistled. Once out of their kiss, Jesse and James looked up to see all the people staring happily at them. They smiled shyly and sat back in the booth, talking and eating while holding hands across the table.

Just as the couple was walking out of the store, the wealthy manager walked up to them and blocked their way.

"Young people in love like you two shouldn't be walking around in rags like that," and signaled to their clothes. He grabbed a 50-dollar bill and put it in James's hand. "Go out and buy yourself some comfortable clothes." He beamed at the couple. James tried to hand the money back to the man, but the man refused. "I have lots of those. That one is yours now."

James smiled and shook the man's hand. "Thank you, sir." Jesse smiled too and nodded graciously to the man. They then left the restaurant and went to a decent clothing store. After they had bought suitable outfits that reflected their good tastes and put them on, it was now time to retrieve their partner, Meowth.

As Jesse and James walked along the sidewalk towards the pound, James spotted a Meowth darting around their feet.

"Oh, how sweet, Jesse, it's a little girl Meowth," James cooed.

"Awww…. Let's get our Meowth a big surprise and bring the girl Meowth with us. She seems to like you, James."

As soon as James squatted down to pick up the pokemon, the Meowth jumped into his arms. The three strolled over to the pound to get their partner Meowth out.

Jesse and James ran into the pokemon center and asked for the male Meowth. Once directed, they walked over to the cage, the female Meowth following, to take a look. Meowth was thin and frail, near death. His team and lover were gone. As soon as he saw Jesse and James, almost automatically there was a spark of recognition and Meowth's eyes lit up.

"Jesse! James! Awww, I missed ya guys so so much, so much ya'll neva know. I'm so happy you're alive, Jesse and James!"

James picked up Meowth and lifted him out of the cage. He immediately claimed Meowth as his and carried his feline friend out of the pound. Once outside, Jesse smiled at Meowth.

"We got you a surprise, Meowth!"

"What is it?" Meowth asked weakly but anxiously.

"A girlfriend!" Just then Jesse moved to the side to let Meowth see the girl Meowth.

Immediately Meowth knew that this was his long-lost girlfriend and ran over to her.

"CANDY!" Meowth screamed at the top of his lungs. "Oh, my Candy, I've missed you so…. What happened after you had to leave this place?"

In Meowth language Candy told him that she had been adopted, but she ran away and lived on the streets, moving in closer and closer to the pound each day to get back to her love. And her litter of Meowths she had had at her former adoption people's home. They had a good home with the adoption people, so she let them stay there.

Meowth hugged Candy after she had told him. He loved her, and now he knew that she loved him!

As the four strolled away from the pound, Jesse and James held hands and Meowth and Candy trod side by side towards a beautiful future. A future without crime, fear, or secrets; a future full of love.


End file.
